Taming a new budgie

[Mybluebird]

I need a reality check. I have a new budgie (he's just darling) that I got at Petsmart. He is not tame and has never been handled. He watches me carefully when I remove his seed cup and return it but does not fly away. He does fly away when I remove/replace his water cup - it is larger than his food cup but not overly large. When we recently had low humidity here, I noticed some poo stuck on his vent. I tried to catch him to see if I needed to clean him up. While he was madly flying away from my hand, the poo fell off and he has not had this happen again. (I think it was due to the low humidity) But now, if I open my hand in his cage, he flies. If I put my forefinger in next to his perch, he'll move away but not fly. Throughout the day I stand at his cage and talk to him. His cage is in front of a large window. I open the shutters in the afternoon and he tweets, chirps, sings, fly around, jumps from perch to perch to the side of his cage facing the window and will dance back and forth on the perch. He hasn't played with his toys. He eats well from his seed cup and the spray of millet I occasionally pin in his cage but he will not eat anything else I put in. Does anyone have experience with a budgie like this? Is it possible to tame him, I think he is less than 4 months old.

 

[Lady Jane]

Welcome to the forum. Pet store budgies take longer to get used to humans and a new home. Its good he is eating. Are the flight feathers cut? Just go at a slow pace with all you do. Let him hear your voice and even sing if you want to. He mot likely has never seen any greens or veggies. Chop a few in small pieces and sprinkle with millet seed. Dont expect him to eat them for a while so there will be food waste. Do this every day. Took my budgies two weeks to nibble off the seeds. Then they started nibbling on the veggies.
Hang some washed greens from the top of the cage, parsley or kale are good for this. You can use a bag clip to hang with. Did you buy any pellets? I mixed them with the seeds at first. Harrisons extra fine are the right size.

Try playing budgie sounds from You Tube for him. I guarantee he will love this.

 

[Lori D Pert]

Try playing budgie sounds from You Tube for him. I guarantee he will love this.

I know that all budgies respond to this, excellent advice. Millet is a great start to get your budgie used to your hand, and do try any green (lettuce, broccoli, kale, dandilion greens, beet greens) just to tempt him. It can take alot of patience to completely tame a budgie but that patience is well rewarded. Slow and steady is the way to go. Talk softly outside his cage but don't look directly at him..blink and avert your eyes..predators look directly at him. When talking to him, bring your hands up and touch them to your face. Once he is calmed by your voice and you touch your hands to your face he will start to see that your hands are not the enemy. Once he is OK with seeing your hands slowly open his cage door and open your hand inside his cage. Then bring your hand under his chest. (if he will let you get this close). He should step up. Praise him. Continue this for as long as it takes for him to be calm when you do this. You should realize by now that this takes time and commitment.A tamed bird takes alot of repeated tries on your part. It does not come quickly however once your bird starts to trust you there is no better feeling in the world. Just do not rush it. It is well worth the wait, believe me..lol. None of my budgies has ever been hand tamed but I managed to tame them all..it is very possible with patience and understanding. Just know that each budgie has it's own distinct and unique personality. Some tame quite easily and others take time.

 

[Hawk12237]

Welcome to the forum. Pet store budgies take longer to get used to humans and a new home. Its good he is eating. Are the flight feathers cut? Just go at a slow pace with all you do. Let him hear your voice and even sing if you want to. He mot likely has never seen any greens or veggies. Chop a few in small pieces and sprinkle with millet seed. Dont expect him to eat them for a while so there will be food waste. Do this every day. Took my budgies two weeks to nibble off the seeds. Then they started nibbling on the veggies.
Hang some washed greens from the top of the cage, parsley or kale are good for this. You can use a bag clip to hang with. Did you buy any pellets? I mixed them with the seeds at first. Harrisons extra fine are the right size.

Try playing budgie sounds from You Tube for him. I guarantee he will love this.

I second that, budgies as well as other birds, love the sounds of birds off you tube. My grey likes the greys, my son likes the Amazon's singing and will join in with the singing!

 

[Rain Bow]

My Zon loves to talk & whistle w/ the Cockatiel videos posted here & other Zon's. Occassionally a Too, these he likes to watch more than talk @.

 

[JoJo&Loki]

Congrats on your new baby!
I got my first from Petsmart back in April and I could not love that little ball of fun any more than I do. And I got good news for you- it took time and a LOT of patience but Jojo has been tame (and sociable with pretty much everyone) since this summer. It can definitely be done. The advice you got above was all fantastic- that is basically everything I did. I’ve learned so much from the members on this forum, and I think you will too.

The only thing I’d like to add- you said your bird isn’t playing with toys. Have you actually showed him how? They really don’t have toys for them at the pet store (at least mine didn’t) so once Jo stopped being terrified of me, every time I’d put a toy in I’d show her how to play. For example with a bell I’d tap it lightly a few times with my finger. I still remember how happy it made me when she went over to it right after and tapped it a few times herself

Follow the advice from everyone above and I bet you and your bird will have a great relationship one day soon. Most importantly, have fun!

Would love to see some pics too (hint hint)

 

[Lori D Pert]

The only thing I’d like to add- you said your bird isn’t playing with toys. Have you actually showed him how? They really don’t have toys for them at the pet store (at least mine didn’t) so once Jo stopped being terrified of me, every time I’d put a toy in I’d show her how to play. For example with a bell I’d tap it lightly a few times with my finger. I still remember how happy it made me when she went over to it right after and tapped it a few times herself

This is great advice..very often when your bird becomes tame they do not actually know what their toys are for...showing them can be a great bond for both of you!

 

[Ripshod]

How long has he been with you. It does take a few weeks generally to get used to his new human, his new bedroom and his new toys.
And a resounding 'yes' to the youtube sounds of budgies. They'll help him relax.

 

[Mybluebird]

Thank you all! I have the Harrison's extra fine and I'm mixing it with Volkmans super parakeet food that I got when I bought him. He may be picking out what he likes but at least he's not throwing anything except empty shells to the bottom of the cage - my boy's a tidy eater! I will try the trick of sprinkling millet on chopped fresh veggies. I will also follow your other recommendations with talking to him and placement of the hands. I find it encouraging that you have tamed pet store birds. I am attaching a picture of his cage so you can see the set up. (Any interior decorators?) His wings have not been clipped. I am slowly exchanging the dowel perches for natural ones. I used to have a dowel perch as the third perch down but replaced that. Its been 2 weeks. He has jumped down a couple of times but hasn't stayed and he used to perch on the third dowel alot. My poor baby is still so skittish of everything!

 

[Zara]

I am slowly exchanging the dowel perches for natural ones. I used to have a dowel perch as the third perch down but replaced that. Its been 2 weeks. He has jumped down a couple of times but hasn't stayed

Birds like to sit high. Put the dowels lower and the natural branch higher

 

[Lori D Pert]

Wow..that is quite the cage..lol. Budgies will instinctually go to the highest point in their cage at first for safety. Maybe put some of those natural perches up higher with another ladder leading up to it. Budgies are great climbers. Also is that a window behind the cage? Natural light is great but your budgie needs to be able to get to shade. It may help as well to cover 1 or 2 sides of the cage to help him feel more secure at first. He will fear that something can sneak up on him so covering 1 or 2 sides will help. Keep a radio playing when you are not around. Quiet is danger to a budgie. So glad he is not clipped, once he is tame he will need out of cage flight time. That's all I can think of for now. Can we get a close up of your new baby?

 

[Mybluebird]

I have his food and water next to the highest dowel perch. Should I replace that perch with a couple of branch type perches or would that be too much for him at this time? Interesting, he now sleeps on the second dowel perch by the side of the cage. He used to sleep on the third dowel perch. After sunset, he jumps right to that spot and fluffs up until I cover him. He did jump up to his swing when I first brought him home but hasn't since then. I brought him home on Sept 29, so its been about 5 weeks. Here is a picture of him - you can see he is still a baby.

 

[Zara]

Look at that face! Beautiful!!

 

[Mybluebird]

Yes, that is a window behind him. It has shutters which I open around noon when the sun has moved so his cage is i part shade and part sun. He jumps around calling to the birds outside.

 

[Ripshod]

Look at that face! Beautiful!!

Yes, a beautiful girl by the looks.

 

[Lori D Pert]

What a sweetie!! yup you may have a little girl there. Can we get a pic of the cere from a front view?

 

[Mybluebird]

I will try, he's/she's so afraid of the camera and goes flying whenever I try to get a picture.

 

[Dorcas George]

Great advice from all, of course! What a sweet looking bird! I don't have anything to add except to say that I expected (from past experience) for my budgie, also from Pet Smart to be easier to tame. It has been a challenge. I've had the yellow and green one, Packer, since April and he is slowly, oh so slowly, getting less fearful. He is timid by nature, I think, and who knows what happened before I got him. And then he got somewhat traumatized from losing his little lady bird friend. a couple of months ago. The second white one, Frost, is also from a pet store. No breeders anywhere near me and no luck with finding a rescue bird after weeks of trying. So, I'm with you. It has been slow. But we are progressing, bit by bit. Packer is not clipped and flies a little, when he gets brave enough to come out of the cage, in a smallish bedroom. Frost, unfortunately, is clipped. I haven't been home as much as I would like since getting him, so haven't spent as much dedicated time as I want to do, but I already think he will be more easy than Packer is. They both love budgie sounds, and other birds too, and both LOVE when I sing to them and will twitter back almost instantly. So try singing to them. Wishing you the best with your sweet little baby. Yep, looks like a girl, from what I can see.

 

[Mybluebird]

Small progress! My little bird jumped down to the natural wood perch on the left side and stayed there for a while - chirping and chewing on it!

 

[Lady Jane]

Pretty budgies is still very young so the cere colors may change just before first molt. Most likely girl but do not rule out male yet. A frontal photo would be good with the natural light from the window. I am going to get a link to an important forum thread for you to read on toy safety. There are many toys sold in pet stores that are really dangerous for little birds. Please take a look at the thread where people have posted about those toys with photos. This forum has several vendors that make and sell safe bird toys.

!! Dangerous toys list !! | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum